The Clone Wars
by Vinacular
Summary: The galaxy is engulfed by war between the Republic and the Separatists. Spearheading the Republic's armies is the Grand Army of the Republic, comprised of elite clone troopers. This story follows RT-8196, a clone trooper fighting all across the galaxy for the Republic. Enemies fall, brothers die, and '96 endures it all. And yes, I do plan on regularly updating this. :)
1. Chapter I - The Dawn of War

Author's Note - I do not own Star Wars

The Dawn of War

Geonosis – 22 BBY

We rode in silence to our landing zone, on the right flank of the Republic assault. The gunship's doors slid open, revealing the dusty, barren land of Geonosis. "My god," RT-5687 remarked, capturing all our feelings, "This place is nothing like Kamino."

"Very observant," RT-9221, our lieutenant jabbed. He was the first to hop off the LAAT, and the rest of us followed suit. The lieutenant began to brief our entire platoon, whose gunships had just landed. "The mighty 21st legion will compose the overall offensive's extreme right flank. Artillery and AT-TEs will support the advance."

We heard the blast from a Separatist ship lifting off. I could make out its spherical shape, and the fact that we could see it from miles away alluded to its massive size.

"The Separatist Council is evacuating from the planet, and their army is here to cover their escape." he paused for a moment, surveying the battlefield. He pointed to our left, where we could see the battle already raging. A sea of gleaming white shone under the Geonosian sun, blue and red blaster bolts streaking past them. "We will smash their army and cut off their escape. As you can see, we have no time to waste. Form up into your squads boys."

Our nine-man squads steadily marched forward up a somewhat steep hill, eager for battle. Though the center was already fully engaged, we had still not run into any actual Separatist forces. From behind us, the roar of artillery began, spewing rounds right above our heads over the hill. "Let's go!" the lieutenant urged us forward.

At the crest of the hill, the ground leveled off, with several minor hills dotting the horizon. Great dust clouds had been created by the artillery, hiding the whole army of droids bound to be awaiting us.

And then it began. From behind the dust came a swarm of battle droids. They came in huge numbers, marching slowly towards us, firing their blasters. I raised my own blaster and fired at a droid about 20 yards in front of me. A shot directly to its center put it down quite nicely. It didn't even have time to shoot back.

Blue markings on his armor indicated our lieutenant pushing ahead fast. "Spread out!" he ordered. "Unless you all want to die together, put some space between you and the man next to you." We battled through the dust, concealing us as much as it did the droids.

The dust was the only sort of cover to be had on the battlefield. Blaster bolts came flying out of the dust. A shriek erupted to my right, and I turned to see RT-9854 on the ground, clutching his left arm. A black mark on his upper arm indicated a direct hit. Our squad's medic came rushing towards him, applying some bacta to his wound.

The thick dust started to settle back down, and we were in full view of the massive Separatist army. Among their seemingly endless supply of B1 battle droids were taller, and far more effective Super Battle Droids. One proved this to me directly by firing a wrist rocket at '54 and our medic. Shards of their armor and half of the medic's helmet was all that could find of them. I hoped for their sake that it was a quick and painless death.

Though we were suffering considerable casualties, we were able to continually force back the droids. "Come on boys! We've got these rust buckets on their heels," the lieutenant spun around, motioning us forward.

He was shot in the back, dropping his rifle and falling to his knees. Surprisingly, the shot didn't kill him instantly. Another blaster bolt to the head did the trick though, and he crumpled. I was paralyzed for a moment, but I had no choice to but to carry on.

I sprinted to to the lieutenant's corpse, crouching down beside it. I began to pick off individual droids with the DC-15A I had been issued. Each of them crumbled with just a single bolt from my rifle.

Time seemed to slow down for a split-second, as a crimson bolt came menacing towards me. I thought for sure it would kill me. It was almost poetic, dying beside my commander in the first engagement of the war. But instead, the bolt did something even more surprising; it hit the muzzle of my rifle, rendering it useless, and sending me sprawling backwards.

I looked at it in shock, now a useless heap of smoldering plastic. Behind me and off to the left, '87, kneeling next to the rubble of a Super, glanced over at me and laughed. "Hey. '96, why don't you share some of your luck with the rest of us?" He tossed me a DC-15S from one of our brother's hands, still gripping his rifle after death.

I turned back to the swarm of droids in front of us, and we resumed the advance. Our forces were slowly beginning to form up into an arch, strangling the now heavily depleted Separatist army. The massive firepower we could field was truly awe-inspiring.

A hailfire droid began to charge our lines, spewing its deadly payload of rockets. I primed one of the grenades I had been issued, and aimed for the beast. The grenade simply clanked off of one of its wheels.

One of its rockets flew mere feet past me, and destroyed the right frontal leg of an AT-TE. Though now rendered immobile, the AT-TE was still very capable of providing fire support. The gunner did not hesitate to repay his assailant with a well-placed shot.

The march began again, amidst the chaos and roar of battle. Screams of agony and pain erupting around me, from those who were not granted a swift death. We began to make for a ridge about half a kilometer away from our position. Droids were still swarming all over the ridge, which rose up quite considerably.

Our platoon had lost roughly 1/5 of our original strength, not to mention our commanding officer. Clad in his green sergeant's armor, RT-4682 was now our acting commander. "Unless you want to die like the lieutenant, we will take that ridge!" He valiantly led the charge, breaking out in a full-sprint, blasters blazing.

Armed with dual DC-17 hand blasters, he didn't show any signs of fatigue during the entire charge. We all followed, though lagging a bit behind, encumbered with our larger blasters. A heap of destroyed droids lay at our feet at the top of the ridge, which gradually dropped off 12 or so meters.

"Quite the surge, eh there sarge?" RT-9191 remarked, taking up position on the ridge.

"Surge," he mused, "I quite like the sound of that." Behind us an AT-TE trudged its way up the hill, crushing already destroyed droids beneath its feet. To our left, we could see our troops annihilating the battle droid army. They had made a considerable push in the very center of the fighting, where the unmistakable glow of lightsabers were carving their way through the droids.

"Surge, sir," I asked '82, eliciting a laugh from him, "where's our Jedi commander?" The hum of LAATs filled the air around us. I spun around to look at the gunships zooming toward us.

"Here he comes," '91 noted, with the gunships beginning to slow themselves down for their landing.


	2. Chapter II - The Master

Author's Note - I don't own Star Wars, or any of its characters. Not even a little. Also, the PLX-1 missile launcher was the primary heavy weapon used by clone troopers. I abbreviated it simply to PLX-1, because for them to call it the PLX-1 Missile Launcher every single time would be a little bit silly. In addition, I used Plo Koon as the Jedi in this chapter as I don't remember anything specific about his whereabouts in the Battle of Geonosis, so I thought it would be okay if I inserted him here. :)

The Master

Geonosis – 22 BBY

The gunships landed, kicking up the dust around us. The door slid open, revealing a squad of fresh troopers and a Kel Dor in Jedi robes, clutching his inactivated lightsaber.

Introducing himself through his breathing mask, "Greetings soldiers, I am Plo Koon." He stepped down from the transport accompanied by an entire other platoon unloading from the rest of their gunships. "This is lieutenant CK-6453," he said, gesturing to a trooper in blue-marked lieutenant armor.

He nodded to us, "We've been sent here with Master Plo Koon, to assist in you your advance." Surge and I were the only ones speaking to them, with the rest of our platoon picking off droids from the ridge.

The Jedi began again, in his slow, measured speech, "Your forces had advanced the furthest along our entire right flank." I was surprised, but only slightly. The rest of the line was at least half a klick behind our position. "Impressive work men," he complimented us. "Where is your platoon's lieutenant?"

"Dead, sir," Surge responded instantly. "I am our platoon's acting commander as of now."

"Well, I commend you on your leadership then." the Jedi said, with the gunships behind him taking off, making for the Separatist lines. "I will take command of our forces from here on out, lieutenant." he told Surge.

"Yes, sir." Surge saluted, and I didn't have to see his face to know he was smiling. We all headed to the ridge, with me and Surge heading over to our platoon. We couldn't see over the ridge until we were at the very top of it. What looked like the entire droid army greeted us, blasting us with their red blaster bolts.

"Who the hell is that?" RT-0832 asked bewildered, gesturing to the Jedi Master with his blaster.

"He's our new commander. A Jedi." I replied, taking up position on the ridge.

"Jedi, eh? Let's see how they fight," '87 said, doubting his abilities. The AT-TE with us on the ridge was attracting a considerable amount of attention, but the droid bolts couldn't even touch it. Blasting away, each shot it fired annihilated groups of clumped-up battle droids.

"I'm guessing he is just a strategist," '91 said, turning from the ridge, looking the Kel Dor over. "He doesn't look like a warrior to me. Quite honestly, he looks a bit frail." The master looked over directly at '91 as he said that, maybe coincidentally? There was no way he could've heard him from so far away. He strode to our squad, and '91 immediately turned back to the droid lines, pretending to be fully engaged with the droids.

"I've just finished briefing the rest of your platoon," he informed us. "We will continue the assault. The droid positions may seem strong, but their right flank is ready to collapse."

"How do you know that, sir?" '87 questioned him.

"I took note of their positions when we flew over here. One last push will break their left flank, and our victory will be ensured."

"Alright, shall we commence the attack now sir?" Surge asked him.

He replied with a nod, "Yes, lieutenant, we will all push immediately."

"Well, you heard him boys, let's move." Surge ordered. We began to make our way down the ridge, under fire from the droids.

"Wait a second, did he call you lieutenant?" '87 realized. Surge began to laugh when we all began to lift up in the air, like some invisible wire was carrying us up.

"The hell-" '91 started, and then we were flung forward, and down to the bottom of the ridge, along with every other trooper on the ridge. We all looked out each outer completely bewildered. Master Plo Koon landed in front of us, rising to his feet.

"Wait are you waiting for?" he turned to us chuckling, activating his blue lightsaber. He charged forward, and we all followed suit, with no time to think about what the Jedi had just managed to do. As heavily trained as we were, the master managed to readily outpace us, and all the while keeping his fluid, fighting form. He was a blur, droids lying severed in multiple places left and right of him.

The droids focused most of their firepower on the Jedi, but their already inaccurate fire was near useless against him. Every shot fired at him was deflected, with a good portion of them being flung right back at the droids. "Quite the strategist, eh?" I grinned, charging full-stride with my brothers.

"Admittedly," '91 revealed, "I think I might've underestimated him." I turned to look behind me, and over the ridge more clones came down, firing their blasters supporting us. I thought that our first blitz up the ridge was impressive, but we had covered much more ground in this charge. It didn't hurt that we had more than doubled our numbers, but Master Plo Koon was undoubtedly leading this assault.

We were easily outnumbered more than four to one, but the B1 battle droids were no match for us. They were dim-witted, despite being robotic, and they seemed to act autonomously, independent from each other. This made for a weaker overall fighting force, which we readily exploited.

Before me, a menacing spider walker towered over us. It hobbled awkwardly forward on its four legs, but made deadly use of its laser cannon.

The Jedi turned to us, as if he was expecting to see us scrambling back in fear. We were not so easily intimidated. Several of us primed our grenades and threw them at the spider droid. Unfortunately, they appeared to do very little to it.

A red beam shot out from its cannon, whizzing mere inches above my head. Instinctively, I took cover and dropped to the ground. Even through my helmet, I could feel the heat of the laser cannon.

Lying on my side, I could see it cut off RT-3474's right arm from the shoulder, and slice off the fin of his helmet, revealing his black hair beneath. Screaming in agony, he collapsed in a heap, somehow managing to still hold onto his blaster. With his left arm he resiliently continued to blast away at the spider droid, but to no avail.

"Medic!" I yelled, looking around frantically in the shadow of the spider droid. I noticed a medic from the other platoon shift his gaze towards me. He began making his way toward '74, behind the front line of our advancing troops. I could distinguish him from the rest of the infantry by his medical backpack, and the patch on his shoulder.

Other than that, he looked like a standard trooper. And he died like one, about 20 yards away from me. A crimson bolt sent him sprawling, and the contents of his backpack were sent with him. "'32!" I yelled to the closest man to the medic. "Throw me a bacta kit from that medic's bag," I demanded, gesturing behind him.

He rummaged through the medic's bag, heaving a small bacta kit towards me, rolling on the ground halfway. Picking up the kit, I turned to '74 just in time to see him crumple with a blast to the head. "Dammit!" I yelled, angrily slamming the kit against the ground.

The spider droid had continued to plow through a great deal of our troops before it was dispatched. The Jedi leaped up high into the air, landing atop the droid, cleaving off the main cannon with his lightsaber. "Not gonna lie," '87 said, fighting his way over to me, "that was pretty impressive." The spider droid was soon rendered immobile, thanks to the swift disposal of its legs at the hands of Jedi Master Plo Koon.

The awe was short lived, as the figure of the three more spider walkers began to appear from behind a small ridge about 170 yards in front of us. Surge made his way to the front of our platoon, which had halted briefly, taking cover behind the downed spider walker. "Does anyone still have their PLX-1?" he looked around at us. "Where's '46? I know he had one."

"He's dead sir," RT-0026 piped up. "And way back that way too," he said, pointing back past the ridge that we had come from. The plodding of the walkers' feet inched closer and closer to us.

"Damn," Surge muttered. "We're gonna have to find a way to take out those spiders." He peered over the shattered hull of the spider droid, "Another minute and they'll be right on top of us" he noted. "And their battle droid escort is nothing to sneeze at either."

"Oh come on," '91 scoffed, "we can take 'em."

"Yeah!" '32 agreed. "We can ambush them. A couple of thermal detonators for the tinnies will take good care of them."

Surge stayed silent for a moment, then looked over to the other platoon, shielded by the remains of an LAAT. I saw him glance at the Jedi, who began to shake his head.

I asked the sergeant, "What's he doing that for?" He didn't need to answer me. We all whirled around to the sight and sound of those beautiful LAATs. They unleashed their deadly arsenal upon the droids. After a few moments of taking cover, we emerged to the sight of burning spider droid hulls, and shards of battle droids.

"Beautiful," I remarked. "Just beautiful." The platoons began to file through the rubble, kicking the droids at our feet.

"I couldn't agree more," CK-6453, the lieutenant laughed. Surge moved up towards him, already accompanied by Master Plo Koon. "It seems like the gunships are always there to save our asses." '53 laughed.

"Yes," the Jedi concurred, "but we mustn't revel in our victory here. The Separatist flank has been shattered, but the bulk of their forces remain. The rest of your legion will follow suit in exploiting this weakness."

We had emerged past the rubble, and a sheer cliff before us forced our unit to veer gradually westward. From atop this plateau, we got a clearer glimpse of the battle. Rocky pillars and ridges to our west had shielded us from this view during most of the advance, but we now had full vision.

"Alright boys," Surge smirked, "let's join the main party."

"Will we be flying down there again?" '87 asked with a laugh.

"No, I don't think so." Master Plo Koon smirked. "We will rappel down the side of this plateau, and land down there fighting."


End file.
